Socket FM2 is (almost) there

[Dirk Broer]

FM2 ATX boards Review from Tom's Hardware.
Tom agrees with me on most favorite boards -The ASUS F2A85-V PRO and the Asrock FM2A85 Extreme 6-, but for more elaborate reasons. As he states "Asus provides the best overclocking on its exorbitantly-priced F2A85-V Pro, while ASRock offers the best price on its FM2A85X Extreme6, which doesn't overclock as well. Charting performance-per-dollar might it easier for some folks to choose a winner, but we also need to discuss the feature set each platform offers at its price point."


So what makes the Asrock FM2A85 Extreme 6 tick, according to Tom?
* It had the highest number (10) of phases in the voltage regulator module (like i wrote: The power design has a 8+2 phase VRM. BTW: As has the Biostar HI-Fi A85X, but their board was not included in the review). ECS is the only one here to stick out with it's mere five phases.
* It had a shared highest number of PCIe-16 slots, 3 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4). MSI and ECS fail a bit here, 'only' offering two (x16/x0 or x8/x8), and thus limiting a cruncher to a triple APU/HD 6670 setup. But the cruncher can also decide to fit in two HD 7790s, or better.
* It has a shared highest number of fan pinout points (6).
* It has a diagnostics panel (as have the Gigabyte and Sapphire boards).
# It has the best sound chip (together with the Biostar HI-Fi A85X)

And what might be the unique selling points of the ASUS F2A85-V PRO?
* It had a shared highest number of PCIe-16 slots, 3 (x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4).
* It's fan pinout points (5) are all 4-pin. (as with the Gigabyte mobo)
* It is the best overclockable board in the review.